Future of electroincs

Faces of the future / Page 5

Tiny innovations / Page 12

Long live the chip / Page 13

bright sparks on how

The microtechnology

Celebrating 51 years

and why they got into the industry

behind cattle and cars

of the mighty microchip

Engineering’s

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The power behind decisions

NOVEMBER 2012

Small island, big ideas Government, industry and the stars of engineering bring electronic systems home

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The future of electronic systems

Publisher Bradley Scheffer info@lyonsdown.co.uk

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the guardian

November 2012

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Project Manager Marc Morrow marc@lyonsdown.co.uk

Editor Ellen Bennett ellen@lyonsdown.co.uk

Production Assistant Fleur Hollett production@lyonsdown.co.uk

For more information on any of our supplements please contact us: Telephone 020 8349 4363 Email info@lyonsdown.co.uk

Best of the blogs

Production Editor Amy Dickson amy@lyonsdown.co.uk

Who? New Electronics blog What? New Electronics is the website for electronic design engineers. In its blog section, you will find the latest news, clearly listed and well presented.

From industry moves and retirements, to the latest news on the Raspberry Pi, this blog will keep you updated on microelectronics and electronics systems industries.

It says: The fate of MIPS Technologies has been the subject of rumours for several months after news surfaced earlier in 2012 that the company had retained an investment bank to ‘explore options’. That’s usually a euphemism for finding someone to buy it.

Where? newelectronics.co.uk/ electronics-blogs/ Who? EW blog What? Nick Locke’s blog broaches the technical side of microelectronics. With more than 15 years’ experience in the electronics manufacturing industry, specialising in

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interconnection cable assembly, Locke analyses new products and covers the marketing aspects of the electronics manufacturing industry.

It says: The real point here is that the great work we do in the electronics industry can change lives for the better and you play an important part in this. Also, the next time you have a great idea, do something about it.

Where? electronicsweekly. com/blogs/electronics-weeklyblog/2012/06/only-connect-oninnovation-in-electronics.html Who? Electronics Official Group What? The Electronic Official Group covers issues such as the supply chain and knowledge transfer within the electronics industry, while also covering past and future industry events. You will find all the recent posts in a list on the right of your screen. The group supports the community of technology users and technology providers involved

in the electronics sector.

It says: Electronic systems are pervasive today. They are the ‘technology’ behind the smart products we see on the shelves, but also invisibly behind the improved performance and delivery of most of society’s infrastructure. Analysts agree that improvements in all areas of society and the economy will be facilitated by increasing their deployment and integration.

Where? connect.innovateuk. org/web/electronics/articles/-/ blogs/ Who? Video: advice to support your small or medium sized microelectronics company talk.

What? This YouTube video highlights the proceedings of a lab session led by Microelectronics iNet. This session allows business leaders to share experiences with technology experts and to solve problems they meet in the day-to-day use of technology in the office.

Where? http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=0sJeh48Uu9o

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Source: University of Nottingham

Intelligent control Communication

National/International

Regional

Offshore wind

Community

Onshore wind Waste Power quality device

Conventional generation

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CHP

Heat

Biofuels

SMEs

AC grid Rail PV

HVDC grid Electric vehicles

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Commercial building

Smart meters

Storage

Embedded domestic generation

Large industry

Powering UK in the future Moving the UK to a smart grid is essential in order to secure the nation’s energy supply, allow for the move to a lowcarbon economy, and cut energy prices for consumers.

Across the world, smart grids are revolutionising energy consumption, bringing more sustainable energy into supply, improving energy distribution and empowering consumers to make informed decisions around efficient

energy consumption.

Smart grids are powered by electronic systems, with a huge amount of research and development currently underway in the UK and globally. Smart metering is at the forefront of changing

What’s inside?

Engineering’s brightest stars take a bow Page 5

Electronic systems and the corridors of power Page 11

How microchips are changing the world Page 12

Fifty-one years of electronic systems Page 16

consumer habits. The UK government is aiming for every home and business to have a smart meter installed by 2020, meaning there is huge potential in terms of volume – and utility firms are keen to get a slice of the pie.

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The future of electronic systems

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Hidden magic of modern life A leader in the electronic systems industry is striving for UKled innovation

them – but they’re always there, quietly delivering their magic.

Invisible industry

At the heart of many modern day-products, new figures to be published in 2013 will show that the electronic systems industry employs more than the 250,000 INDUSTRY VIEW previously thought, and directly contributes to the UK economy significantly more than the lectronic systems are £23 billion quoted in 2009. magical; they provide Add it all up and electronic us with the means to systems is the greatest UK deliver entertainment, industry you can’t see, yet communications, clean Electronic at the same time its future energy, transport, systems healthcare, security, contribute over success needs the best, brightest and most able business systems £23bn minds we can provide. and much more. to UK NMI is the trade They are so economy association for electronic embedded into our systems in the UK and our everyday environment vision is to see UK-delivered that we don’t always notice

E

Mind A the (skills) gap

INDUSTRY VIEW

Reflections on the current skills challenges facing the UK electronics industry

t 30,000 feet the UK electronics industry is barely visible, yet it touches all aspects of modern society.

It is fragmented, specialised and inward-looking. It is also vibrant, exciting and full of passionate individuals who have forgotten more than they currently know. In my experience, there is a lack of 30-somethingyear-old engineers – those with enough experience to do a good job but without the baggage of a “in my day we always did this” mindset. In the thousands of vacancies on the market today, a large proportion of them look to recruit from this group.

Therefore my first conclusion is that we dropped the ball 10-15 years ago. I’d welcome research into this, as we can all learn from past mistakes.

However, it is unlikely that we can magically create sufficient engineers at this level in the short term. So there is a massive challenge ahead.

One way to help involves nurturing existing talent. We know

innovations lead the world. We provide a home to the many and varied parts of this community and our mission is simple: to catalyse and facilitate the commercial and technological development of our industry.

Share our vision To achieve this, our work covers key areas and our membership extends the eco-system from chip producers to manufacturers and from universities to business services.

If you share our values and vision you can join the NMI community. www.nmi.org.uk

that an engineer’s knowledge naturally decays over time unless stimulated by new inputs. So if companies do not actively solicit new input, then the relevance of its engineer’s skills could be undermined.

Putting your best engineers on your most important projects makes

“We need to get involved and make a difference for ourselves” – Mayo sense, but if those projects take 12-24 months to complete, then your best engineers skills may have been compromised.

So perhaps one way of addressing the “skills gap” is to ensure that existing engineers have access to modern and relevant training?

Another way to help in the longer term is to work with youngsters. But kids aren’t interested in electronics

engineering – right? Wrong!

They show no interest because nobody is actually saying anything interesting about the subject.

I have just returned from the Skills Show, where the organisers were expecting 100,000 school students to attend. I presented a lightweight view of engineering to about 70 youngsters and I can tell you that the curiosity, passion, and enthusiasm that defines a good engineer still exists in our youth. They need direction but we need to engage and inspire them on their terms – crystal radios have no relevance to the iPod generation.

Most importantly, we need to recognise that these skills gaps are not going to be solved by government, nor the introduction of new schemes. My mother taught me if you do nothing, then nothing is likely to happen – so we need to get involved and make a difference for ourselves. www.eda.co.uk

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The future of electronic systems

The saviours of UK electronics?

In a four-page special on the future of UK electronics systems, Business Technology caught up with three of the best and brightest at this year’s Young Engineer of the Year awards in London, hosted by trade body, NMI Cont. page 6 >>

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Business Technology

The future of electronic systems

By Ellen Bennett

They are all around us, embedded in everything we do. From the smartphones we use to call, text, email, surf the internet and check our location to the cars we drive, electronic systems are the very foundation of modern businesses and personal lifestyles.

We’ve become accustomed to a dizzying pace of change: blink and there’s an upgrade, a new model, a vital new function that we can’t now imagine living without.

But what if that uphill race suddenly ground to a halt? What if technology stopped developing, stopped getting better?

It’s hard to imagine – but it’s a real risk the UK faces. The country has a proud technological heritage, with its own answer to Silicon Valley based in Bristol and a track record for manufacturing.

But as other parts of the globe soar ahead, fewer and fewer talented young people in the UK are choosing engineering as a career, putting the nation’s future as a leader in the field in serious jeopardy. Acceptances for engineering degrees were down

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nearly 12 per cent year-on-year in 2012, which trade body NMUI calls a “worrying trend”.

Bucking the trend Luckily, some bright young things are bucking the trend – and Business Technology met three of the best, as they waited earlier this month at the Radisson Blue hotel in central London to discover which of them had won the coveted Young Engineer of the Year award, presented by trade body, NMI. Fresh from a day-long conference, and nervous but excited about the awards presentation ahead, the young engineers shared a contagious passion for their industry.

As Pond Venture partner Jamie Urquhart, who is chairing a taskforce on the future of the industry (see p11), says: “The UK has got some top notch universities, it’s got a health service that’s second-to-none, and we’ve got fantastic skills in terms of the capabilities we need, from sensors to software to semiconductors.

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“The challenge is how we take of all these seeds and nurture the garden for 20 years’ time.”

Part of the answer lies here, with young engineers such as Ed Lander, Kevin Moore and Jiang Lu. All three were drawn to their profession from an early age – though not always for academic reasons.

For Liu, the career offered a chance to indulge his passion for video games – without incurring the wrath of his parents. “I’ve always been a fan of electronic gadgets and video games, but my parents weren’t particularly supportive,” he says with a smile. “That door was shut, so I thought, well, I could always do an electronics degree.”

Innovate and compete Whatever their initial motivations, once they had the right qualifications under their belt the young engineers soon saw that the electronic systems was a great choice of sector.

As Lander says: “The technologies are moving at such

“The challenge is how we take of these seeds and nurture the garden for 20 years’ time” – Urquhart an amazing pace, there are huge companies all around the world trying to innovate and outcompete each other. It’s a very fast and dynamic place to be.”

Over the course of the afternoon, it becomes clear that the young engineers and their older colleagues are all motivated by one overriding factor: changing the world.

Liu, who works for the automotive division of Freescale, says: “I live in Edinburgh and I drive to work in Glasgow – that’s three hours on the road every day. Sometimes tiredness can get the better of me. We’re coming up with technologies that can see when you are getting drowsy and alarm you. There are cameras that can decode road signs, and send that

Imagination and innovation Forget The X Factor – the hottest talent is heading for the fast-expanding chip technologies sector INDUSTRY VIEW What’s the story behind Imagination Technologies?

We are a leading supplier of graphics, video, communications and processor technologies used by the major semiconductor companies to create the chips powering the coolest kit.

We have tremendous reach worldwide, and are used by many companies including Intel, Mediatek, Renesas and Samsung. We’re well known for our PowerVR GPU being the graphics processor in all Apple iPhones and iPads, but we’re also in many leading Android phones, tablets and much more.

We have come a long way since we started in 1985. We now employ around 1,300 people, are highly profitable and are a rising star in the FTSE 250.

What are your future plans?

We plan to keep designing more world-class technologies to keep us at the forefront of what we

do. We need the most talented hardware, software, algorithms and systems engineers to help us do that. And we want as many as possible here in the UK. We work on many of tomorrow’s most exciting products – from the latest smartphones and tablets to smart TVs, connected cars and much more. Indeed more than one billion products have already shipped with one or more of our technologies inside.

What kind of people are you looking for?

We are growing by around 200 people a year. Our design work is mostly done by people with degrees in engineering Tony King-Smith, left, is a vice president of Imagination Technologies

A maz ing made games ar e p Powe ossible by rVR g raphic s

or computer science. Around half of our recruits are new graduates – it’s a young and vibrant culture.

We offer intellectually stimulating and challenging work, designing things people buy and use every day. It’s a very rewarding career.

What are the biggest trends you see in the market?

The GPU (graphics processor) is replacing the CPU to become the heavy-lifting processor in most of the products we work in – and our PowerVR GPU is the world’s most successful in mobile and embedded.

Also everything in the home is becoming inter-connected – from a TV and radio to a smart meter, or even every light bulb.

We’re proud to be a great UK company, with amazing influence and reach globally. www.imgtec.com

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information back to the car. In the future, we are going to have cars that will be impossible to crash.”

Given that more than 200,000 people are killed or injured on the UK’s roads each year, that’s certainly something worth getting up for in the morning.

Meanwhile, Moore has been working on an image sensor for automobiles. “If you’re driving along in the south of France in really bright sunshine, you need to be able to see in a tunnel, which is very dark, and outside, which is very light,” he says. “I proposed a new pixel design for this and a new algorithm to allow us to achieve a higher dynamic range, then took the lead role on the project and worked on its development with the team in France.”

Electronic systems also have huge potential implications for healthcare, sustainable energy use and a whole array of vital functions that go beyond gadgets and technical wizardry.

Work-life balance A career in electronic systems is also financially rewarding with anecdotal evidence suggesting graduates can expect to start on a salary between £23,000 and £30,000; masters degree graduates between £28,000 and £32,000; and PhD graduates looking at £28,000 to £32,000, plus potential for travel and rapid advancement coupled with that rare thing – a work-life balance.

In return, graduates need to have a range of skills. As Liu says: “[Recruits] have to be interested in technology – that interest gives them the motivation to keep going.

Programming skills are one of the areas we are focusing on these days – no matter how good the hardware is, when the product is out there with the general public its success is really down to the software, because that provides the interface between our products and the user.”

As well as core technical skills, Lander believes recruits will benefit from communication and problem-solving aptitude.

“I’ve never been fascinated with coding,” he says. “I like more abstract problem-solving.

I think the international nature of the industry means that communication skills are Cont. page 8 >>

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KEVIN MOORE Kevin Moore, 29, first developed an interest in engineering at school. After taking his degree at the University of Edinburgh, he joined ST Microelectronics, where he works in the imaging division.

Moore believes that more should be done to encourage young people to learn about engineering at school age. “When I was at school I took part in the engineer and education scheme,” he says. “It took four students from a school that are promising and keen to do something outside standard school time, and set them to work on reallife engineering problems with a local company.

“Driven young people are the people you want to pull into the profession, and those schemes are an ideal way of doing it.”

Moore believes that the development of sensor technology is one of the most exciting areas. “Over the past ten years, you saw phones get smaller and smaller – and then bigger,” he says. “They got bigger because the human interface was lacking.

“There have been some inroads into that; the touch screen has come along and that’s really helped, but the human interface remains the limiting factor.

The technology we are developing could be a real game-changer.”

November 2012

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The future of electronic systems

Business Technology

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“Young people probably think an engineer fixes a lightbulb” – Liu

8

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the most important.”

Moore agrees. “You have to be able to think laterally, to find new ways of doing things,” he enthuses. “One really important thing is not to take anything for granted. If you assume something will be ok, then you can guarantee that will the thing that goes wrong.”

Image problem It’s a tough industry – but very rewarding. So why aren’t more young people entering a career in engineering? Our young stars think the industry has got an image problem.

“The term engineer has been heavily misused by the media and people in general, so that has led to misconceptions. Young people probably think an engineer is someone who fixes a lightbulb.”

As Moore points out, other nations seem to have more respect for engineering as a profession: “In countries like Germany, an engineer is on a par with a doctor,” he says.

Lander has similar concerns. He says: “It’s no secret that we’ve got

a real skills gap in this country, and that’s why I’m passionate about getting young engineers into the industry. If we don’t bring them up through the ranks, people that are retiring won’t be replaced.

“We’ve got an

JIANG LIU 26-year-old Jiang Liu, born in Chongquing, China, studied electronic engineering at the University of Edinburgh before joining the automotive division of Freescale.

He’s motivated by the challenging nature of the industry: “You’re always taking on new challenges, known to so few people and with so few previous examples to follow. It makes you feel like you are leading the way.

You overcome these challenges, and it’s massively rewarding, creating a positive feedback loop.”

Liu has had a particularly exciting year, having been one of the first test engineers to work on Freescale’s latest 55mm automotive controllers.

“Everything’s new to me, and there are lots of challenges,” he says.

“It’s fantastic to be working with the design team and the product engineering team.”

Liu believes

that the UK culture is partly to blame for the relative lack of young people coming into engineering.

“In the States it is cool to be a geek and an engineer,” he says.

“Whereas if you are born and bred in the UK, being seen as a geek in school is not cool at all. A culture change needs to happen to encourage more young people to apply for engineering degrees and get a job in this industry.”

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November 2012

University, where he spoke to a group of undergraduates about their career prospects. “Graduates stagnate in a lot of industries; ‘bored’ is a term I hear a lot,” he says. “In the electronics industry there’s always so much going on and so much to learn.”

Bright future If there’s one thing the group is more passionate about than their reasons for choosing a career

amazing legacy in the UK, particularly around Bristol. I was at a retirement drinks function there recently, and the guard of the UK silicon industry were there. When you realise they’re in the 50s and 60s, you think, there’s a danger this industry could evaporate.”

The industry is working together to bring more talent into the industry, but the young engineers are keen to make their own contribution. All three speak passionately of various outreach placements they have been involved with. Lander is fresh from a trip back to his alma mater, Bristol

“The future of UK engineering has to be focused on innovation” – Moore in electronics, it’s the future of the industry itself. “The future of engineering in Britain is and absolutely has to be focused on innovation,” says Moore.

Lander adds: “I can see only further proliferation of microchips into society and personal devices.

The Googles and Apples of the future will be the companies to work for, and they’ll be paying investment-banker salaries to the top engineers, the people who make the difference between an HTC and an iPhone; the future Steve Jobs of the worlds.”

All systems go Thundering ahead in the advanced electronics sector INDUSTRY VIEW

H

igh-performance sensors are at the heart of today’s most advanced electronics applications.

Raytheon’s research, development and production facility in Glenrothes is geared up to supply power subsystems and components to the electronic systems

marketplace that cater for a wide range of purposes, from fuel conservation in the automotive and aeronautical industries, to operations in the harsh environments of oil and gas exploration and green energy solutions.

Raytheon addresses the need for complex, missioncritical systems, including power-management and distribution systems;

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The future of electronic systems

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The top engineers, the ‘future Steve Jobs’, may be paid investmentbanker salaries, according to Lander

Business Technology

ED LANDER Hardware design engineer Ed Lander, 28, who worked until recently at ST Microelectronics, chose a career in electronics systems while studying at Bristol University.

“My passion for the industry has grown through having lived it and grown up in it,” he says.

He enjoys problem-solving, travelling and working with colleagues across the

glamorise “We jobs in industries where only a small number of people can succeed

”

industry. ”It’s all too easy to just stay focused on what you’re doing,” he says.

“You should always be asking yourself questions – am I doing this the right way, could I be doing it better, how are our competitors doing it?”

Lander believes there’s too much focus in the media and society at large on celebrities and reality TV culture.

“We glamorise jobs in industries where only a small number of people

control systems; AC-DC, DC-DC power supplies; motor-control systems; and semiconductors. The semiconductor division provides foundry services for clients by building discrete components from silicon carbide. These devices are a component for the growing green energy market and constitute the latest technology developments in the automotive sector.

Progress made The newest addition to Raytheon’s semiconductor portfolio is hightemperature silicon carbide.

can succeed. We’re skewing what’s out there, and perhaps a lot of young people from the generation below me will get left behind and see people coming in from other countries and doing well for themselves.”

Lander isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and thinks that young engineers should belie the profession’s introverted stereotype. “If you aren’t assertive then you can be left to stagnate.

“It’s a mindset: managers need to recognise talent and ability and reward it, and engineers themselves need to be frank with their managers and recognise their own worth.”

They recently successfully made substantial tested silicon-carbide commitments to nurture mixed-signal fresh engineering integrated-circuit talent to maintain devices at our technological temperatures edge. Raytheon’s up to 400C. technology Highleadership is temperature set to be a game integrated changer in circuits are the energy, Silicon carbide wafer increasingly sustainability vital in applications and green-related such as aero-engines or environments in deep hydrocarbon and both commercial and geothermal drilling. military domains.

Raytheon is engaged in research and development semiconductors@ projects with seven UK raytheon.co.uk universities in a variety www.raytheon.co.uk/ of disciplines and have semiconductors

10

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The app revolution is coming Major industry players are coming together to create cross-industry technology for the future INDUSTRY VIEW

W

hat do SDN (softwaredefined networking), M2M (Machine to Machine), IOT (internet of things) and apps have in common?

They are all part of an industrywide paradigm shift that is happening now to create the right opportunity to accelerate change and innovation.

With the growth in the number of devices connected to the Internet how do we manage the billions of devices and subsequent IP sessions across different networks? New approaches are necessary to effectively connect, enable and manage devices.

SDN realises tangible business benefits by enabling networking equipment to be programmed in the same way that we do computers, smartphones, and tablets. Maintained by the open networking foundation (ONF), SDN implements OpenFlow technology to enable innovative routing and switching solutions that can cope with this new demand.

Powerful solution Open-source provides a framework to allow for collaboration. Travelping, a German company with a long track record of developing highly scalable and flexible embedded telecoms solutions for network operators, Smart has worked on ph and ta ones an openb will be lets source per ce 90 n SDN grow t of th in the w orld devic ’s e by 20 s 15

Exosense lets you use SDN to implement a massively scalable M2M architecture

platform that provides a software and hardware toolkit to create next generation industrial network applications facilitating: l Flexible network apps – created by service providers using ordinary software environments l Rapid service introduction – network operators can implement the features they want and need l Lowered operating expenses and less downtime – through automated network configuration l Integration of the network, computing and storage – allowing a single viewpoint and toolset l Better alignment of the network with business objectives l Open, multi-vendor markets SDN applications are already in production with Google using SDN to effectively manage its network, “the second largest carrier on the planet” and Cellubi using Michronet to provide a transport agnostic M2M overlay network.

This development is not dissimilar to the revolution created with introduction of apps for iOS and Android. Telecom Italia goes further to suggest that SDN enables an “internet with

things” cloud infrastructure where every physical thing is accessible via the internet.

And just as the network requires new approaches for managing software, firmware and operating systems, so do the embedded computers and devices.

This configuration management is visible in the frequent upgrades pushed to your smartphone.

Yet this combination of smartphones, networks and everyday “things” would be billions of connected devices.

And if, as Gartner predicts smartphones and tablets will be 90 per cent of new growth in the world’s devices by 2015, then embedded systems and networks will outstrip this by a factor of four.

How do you manage it all?

At the Linux Foundation Summit, an event to promote cross-industry interoperability, the Automotive Grade Linux working group announced a partnership between Travelping and Feuerlabs.

Feuerlabs uses Travelping’s TPLINO, an embedded operating system, within its Exosense Framework to ensure that embedded devices, hubs and gateways can be configured, monitored, metered and upgraded remotely in a cloud architecture.

Early adopters of this solution include Hova Systems (NFC-enabled patient care) in Mexico, Getaround (CANbus

peer-to-peer car sharing) and Motivo Engineering (design and development) in the US. In the UK Omnisense (sparse wideband (SWB) sensor positioning and real-time location products), Silent Sensors (MEMS-enabled RFID sensors for TPMS) and SteelEel (revolutionary wave microgenerator) will be trialling it in their future products.

These industry initiatives provide an end to end solution for all person to person and M2M communication scaling to billions of devices, enabling new applications to be quickly deployed, monitored and remotely managed.

Revolution is happening The app revolution is evolving at an industrial level across all sectors including telecoms, manufacturing, energy, transportation and media thanks to SDN and IOT. As these domains converge to create consumer solutions such as smart grids for carbonfriendly vehicles, HD IPTV to all, and smart homes with meters all on one inclusive network, we can see that the next ten years will be characterised by more dots being connected to create robust innovative solutions.

Marcus Taylor is founder and CEO at Feuerlabs +447736180404 www.feuerlabs.com

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11

The future of electronic systems

‘No one has the power to crack a whip’ Leadership must be recognised and agendas set to ensure a bright future for electronic systems, says industry taskforce chair, Jamie Urquhart The UK electronics system is preparing to face an exciting but uncertain future. With increased overseas competition and a talent shortage, there are plenty of challenges ahead.

But Britain remains a global leader in this vitally important field and the UK Electronics Systems taskforce is determined for it to remain so. Chaired by Pond Ventures’ venture partner Jamie Urquhart, the taskforce is due to make an initial report shortly. Business Technology caught up with Urquhart at the NMI’s annual awards dinner.

How did the report come about?

[Former business minister] Mark Prisk had been speaking with the NMI; it had worked with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the past on activities and I think he had suggested that they need to understand and develop a report looking at the barriers to growth in the industry.

He asked them to work together with other stakeholders and to put forward a report, and that’s what has happened. The challenge is then taking that fairly broad set of inputs and looking at it in a strategic way. The question in my

mind is not about how do we fix some of the problems that we have today, but more about what are the big opportunities we could start aiming for in the next 10-20 years.

What are some of the issues you tackle in the report?

We have to acknowledge the day-to-day issues – are we getting enough graduates into the industry to keep the status quo that we have today? Do we have the right climate in terms of taxation? It’s a mix of important factors that ensure we’re heading in the right direction,

Core S asset

INDUSTRY VIEW

The challenging economic environment has inspired one firm to develop a technology with wider market appeal

emiconductor start-ups have traditionally pinned their hopes on “the big win” – capturing the business of one or two top customers in an emerging market.

But in recent years the macroeconomic situation has made it harder to succeed like this – while chip-development costs have soared.

Market breakthrough Bristol-based start-up XMOS is solving this dilemma with a breakthrough technology that can be used to address a much broader set of markets, from consumer products to industrial equipment.

but that setting ourselves some longer term goals at the same time.

The challenge then is who owns this problem –or who should own this problem? You have a situation where the government, not unreasonably, says it’s not their job to tell the industry what to do.

But then you have an industry which is a significant contributor to the economy, but there are no larger companies within it that might have the capacity to set the strategic agenda.

What’s the answer?

The answer is that you have to build on your strengths and in some senses build on your perceived weaknesses as well. I was a co-founder of ARM and ARM is very much about working in partnership with lots of companies. That’s what we’ve got to be doing.

I see government as being an important influencer – not that government should be doing all of the work – but the way policies are created and set can have a strong influence on what happens.

We can use that to then give a virtual coherence to the industry.

You’ve got to build on the structure you have rather than try and pretend you have something completely different.

Jamie Urquhart: eyes fixed on the future

Are there going to be some tough messages for government in the report?

I’m not a great fan of saying it’s someone else problem and whinging. If you want to collaborate with people you’ve got to go in with compelling arguments.

A consequence of industry today is that there are a lot of stakeholders and no one has the power to crack a whip. What you have to do is demonstrate there’s an opportunity and try to pull them along.

The technology is xCORE – multicore microcontrollers that respond more quickly and predictably than conventional processors. This makes them particularly suitable for timecritical applications, such as audio-processing, and functions that traditionally needed a hardware solution can be achieved using software instead.

So an xCORE product can be configured with the combination of interfaces that exactly matches a customer’s needs.

“We believe that doing things differently gives us an advantage, technically and commercially,” says chief executive officer Nigel Toon.

“We’re based in the south west, which has a great pool of talent. The

market we’re addressing is worth over $15bn – so the rewards for success will be huge.”

Toon says that winning customers in diverse markets will allow XMOS to build a more sustainable business. This is proving attractive, not least to investors. “We’re fortunate in that we have smart investors who see the potential,” he says.

“A key part of our approach is capital-efficient development that they can really buy into.” www.xmos.com info@xmos.com

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It’s a small world From cars to cows, microtechnology plays a pivotal role in our day-to-day lives

1

Powering mobile devices

A key area where microtechnology is active behind the scenes is the industry for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Market intelligence firm International Data Corporation sees global smartphone shipments reaching 659.8m units worldwide in 2012 – up 33.5 per cent from 494.2m units in 2011 – and predicts a growth of 18.6 per cent until 2016.

Things look similarly rosy for the global tablet market, with the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute forecasting growth of 67 per cent for 2012.

This success is the outcome of numerous factors – good design, internet connectivity and a

dose of clever marketing – but microtechnology also plays an indispensable role here.

Tablets and smartphones rely on microchips to run, and the devices themselves are only increasing in terms of power: one example is the Apple iPhone 4S, which has a much more powerful processor than its predecessor the iPhone 4, allowing it to run seven times faster and provide improved graphics and functionality.

2

Brain implants

From monitoring blood pressure during operations to detecting cancers, microtechnology has already done a huge amount for medicine – but this can maket for slightly squeamish reading.

One application currently making waves is a microchip which can be implanted in the human brain and then used to communicate between neurons and computers.

The chip monitors activity in the brain, and these signals

are transmitted to a computer, providing valuable information on how the brain is working for people with different medical conditions.

Professor Florian Solzbacher, of the University of Utah, is working to refine a chip based on an existing technology, the Utah Electrode Array, which was primarily used to examine blindness.

The chip has been designed to work in different parts of the brain – including the sensory cortex and the motor cortex – and is praised for its stability and the fact it can work in animals, including monkeys, cats and fish, as well as people.

The research, which is being put out to market through Blackrock Microsystems and sister company Blackrock NeuroMed, is being used to explore nervous system disorders including blindness, deafness, Parkinson’s and epilepsy.

3

Neurochips

The combination of human matter and technology doesn’t end with brain implants – in a project

1 running up to 2014, the University of Tübingen’s Natural and Medical Sciences Institute has been working on the advancement of so-called “neurochips”, which combine nerve cells with electronic chips.

These chips – which form a mix of circuits for electrical signals and tiny canals, usually for blood – have thousands of different sensors.

Powering the potential A software and semiconductor specialist is working to create a more interconnected world for customers to benefit from INDUSTRY VIEW

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luetooth Smart is a new radio technology aimed at low-power low-latency applications for wireless devices, with huge potential to benefit consumers in their day-to-day activities.

As a software and semiconductor specialist, CSR is well on it’s way to realising this potential, by pioneering innovative uses for Bluetooth Smart within the

consumer electronics market and transforming the lives of smartphone users, motorists, fitness fanatics and a wide range of gadget-loving individuals.

“There are people doing some pretty wild and wacky things driven by the app ecosystem,” says Paul Williamson, director of Low-Power Wireless. “This isn’t just about doing more of the same thing, it’s about enabling people to interact with more activities and devices while making it more challenging and interesting

than ever before.”

CSR has collaborated with big players from various industries to support a range of sensorbased smart wireless devices. This includes the Nike+ Sport Kit, where sensors in Nike+ Running Shoes track pace, distance, time, and calories before transmitting the data to an iPhone or iPod, helping motivate runners to do more.

Smart home CSR are also working on creating the smart home – connecting and controlling elements such as lighting, temperature and advancing the home entertainment experience. In particular, the CSR audio product line

sets out to deliver the best user experience whether in the home or on the move.

“Consumers today are streaming digital audio from phones and tablets, as well as from networked devices and the cloud. Delivering exceptional sound quality through wireless speakers or headsets has been a driving passion for us,” says Chris Havell, director of audio at CSR. “Filling a room with immersive audio from a sound bar when watching a movie, or delivering synchronised audio around the whole home when hosting a party are just some examples of the complex audio processing and low-latency streaming challenges we’ve

addressed, as is hiding that complexity from the user so they experience fantastic audio in an easy and intuitive way.”

Key insights In terms of its competitors, the differentiating strengths of CSR range from an end-to-end digital-audio processing platform, a strong focus on key insights, and a reputation for being innovative technology pioneers. But what ties it all together, claims Williamson, is reliability.

“A good reputation and trust in the industry is hard to match.” csr@rocketcomms.net www.csr.com

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2 4 Researchers can then electronically stimulate individual cells and test the reactions using the chip, with the outcome transmitted to a computer for analysis.

There are other ways neurochips could make their mark; the foot and mouth virus, which turned into something of an agricultural epidemic in 2001 and briefly

returned in 2007, illustrated the need for quick and effective investigations into diseases to limit any fall out.

With this in mind, the government has commissioned research into a biosecurity chip, which could identify threats earlyon into a potential outbreak by rapidly testing different samples.

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Vehicle controls

New advances have made some microtechnology devices much more robust, allowing them to function despite high levels of pressure and heat.

American company C-Mac MicroTechnology is making the most of this: it uses ceramic layers with wiring from metals such as gold and silver to form high-density microchips able to withstand extreme pressures, and temperatures ranging up to 125C. One area where these prove useful is in vehicle technology: the chips can carry out tasks in the more treacherous parts of a car to make it run more safely and efficiently. Because the chips are able to withstand great levels of heat, for example, they can monitor and regulate functions based in the very hottest parts of a car – such as engine management and fuel levels.

As with other applications of the technology, the sky is the limit: C-Mac MicroTechnology boasts that its devices have ventured beyond the insides of cars, with some used in electric pumps for deep-sea drilling, a number of

medical applications and chips whose resistance to radiation even serves them well in space.

5

Space exploration

It’s hard to talk micro technology without mentioning man and machine’s joint venture into outer space.

As C-Mac MicroTechnology has found, any microchips used in space – to regulate functions on a satellite, for example – have to contend with extreme cold as well as the threat of radiation.

But innovations have moved to meet this challenge: Space Micro, a company in San Diego which has dealt with Boeing and NASA, has developed radiation-hardened microchips, and a specialist thermal coating to shield its devices.

And other work is at hand, too: NASA was recently lauded for its PhoneSat project, which uses microtechnology from smartphones, including fast processors and miniature sensors, to develop four-inch cube satellites.

The three cubes, which cost $3,500 each to build, will serve as guinea pigs for further innovation.

Addressing skills shortages Universities must be given access to electronic-system design tools to prepare graduates for the challenges of tomorrow INDUSTRY VIEW

U

niversities have a vital role to play in the support and growth of the UK economy by supplying highcalibre graduates and conducting industry-relevant research.

The Science & Technology Facilities Council’s Microelectronics Support Centre (MSC) at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has been supporting UK academia for more than 30 years.

Training the future Through the MSC, advanced design techniques and tools, which are necessary to implement modern electronic systems, are being introduced to universities.

This is enabling universities to conduct research and train the future engineers who will form the lifeblood of the UK

electronic-systems design industry.

This industry depends heavily on a range of hi-spec commercial design tools that are constantly evolving to meet the demands of increasing system complexity. However, they come at a considerable cost, in part because of the training required to use them effectively.

The MSC’s Europractice service addresses this by selecting, configuring and providing access to these tools at affordable prices to both research and large-scale classroom teaching. The MSC also provides direct technical support. Thanks to this scheme, universities are able to use the same design tools as industry, from leading companies such as Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys, in their teaching and research.

Europractice serves 75

the MSC on a pay-as-you-use basis.

The MSC also offers advanced training courses on a wide range of electronic-system design topics that have been structured to introduce postgraduates, academic staff and researchers to the best design methodologies and tool use.

At the forefront

STFC is supporting universities to nuture electronic system design skills

The Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is keeping the UK at the forefront of cutting-edge international science, working with academic and industrial communities to share its expertise and tackle some of the significant challenges facing society, such as meeting our future energy needs, monitoring and understanding climate change, and global security.

universities and research facilities across the UK and a further 600 member academic institutions across Europe – all supported by

Dr John McLean is head of the Microelectronics Support Centre www.stfc.ac.uk

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What’s critical to the success of electronic systems in the UK?

INDUSTRY VIEW

Dr Derek Boyd

Ajaib Hussain

Neil Dickins

CEO NMI

UK engineering manager, Rakon

Director IC Group

nmi.org.uk

rakon.com

ic-groupltd.com

Our ability to innovate and compete. The UK has to play to its strengths of innovation and excellence and many factors need to combine to sustain the right environment.

Fundamental to our competitiveness is a world-class skills base and we need a system which is stable yet flexible enough to adapt to future needs. Such a system has a number

of key stakeholders.

Industry must demonstrate rewarding and long-term careers; it must invest in developing its workforce, while government should ensure an education system that produces the best and an employment policy that puts the UK in an advantaged position relative to our competitors.

We are in a rapidly changing global business environment where customers are requiring ever-faster products, more integration, increasingly smaller footprints and lower costs.

The UK has to be in the best position to meet and address these challenges.

So it is critical we have access to a good pool of engineers with the right skills and continue to

enjoy governmental incentives such as patent-box, to help companies innovate and manufacture locally.

Rakon is working closely with universities and industry in the UK to access the best engineers to design and manufacture high-precision quartz crystal-based oscillators that act as references in electronic systems used all over the world.

People are the foundation of any business.

The good news is that the UK’s justified international reputation for design creativity and delivery means that many companies are thriving – and therefore keen to grow.

The bad news is that this has created an unprecedented demand for skills, in an employment market suffering from

ten years of dropping university enrollment rates in the technology disciplines.

The reality is that the government has made work permit applications a muddle of red tape and conflicting messages, costing millions in lost tax revenue and yet more in UK competitiveness.

It wouldn’t take much thought or effort to solve the problem.

Andy Culmer

Andrew Birnie

Peter Greenhalgh

Engineering director Imicast

Automotive systems manager, Freescale

CEO UK Region M+W Group

imicast.com

freescale.com

mwgroup.net

Businesses need focused innovation and the capability to apply it to dynamic markets.

Our market has seen huge advances in video quality and the emergence of 3D, video on demand and mobile streaming.

To keep pace with change, the UK needs innovative products and agile businesses.

A thriving ecosystem of academia and business fosters collaboration and is vital

for training, retaining and inspiring our engineers. Situated on a science park we feel very much part of that ecosystem.

This has helped us build an excellent team and successful business partnerships, which we are continuing to develop; providing development expertise and also finding applications for our new flexible video processing platform.

My answer is three words – innovation, innovation and innovation! As an industry we must not stand still, the global market constantly moves and we need to move with it.

Firstly, creative ideas can come from neighbouring industries – so innovate through collaborations. Observe these neighbours and apply that learning to your market, re-using their

best practices and technologies. Often innovation is not only about the newest technology, but also about matching features with cost.

Secondly, embrace developments in HMI and connectivity. In addition to graphics, HMI is multi-sensory, and the exciting prospect of the seamless connection of machines in the ‘internet of things’ offers endless possibilities.

Celebrating our centenary this year, the M+W Group has served the electronics industry for 100 years.

Looking ahead to the next 100, it is safe to say that more intelligent, cost-effective and green solutions are being sought by our clients. The constant pressure on electronic manufacturers to come up with something better and even cheaper than what redefined

state-of-the-art only a few months before, is where engineering and construction companies like M+W Group play a key role in developing solutions to help achieve this. Critical to the success of electronic systems will be the know-how of the engineers constructing the facilities that manufacture tomorrow’s technology today – enabling new horizons.

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INDUSTRY VIEW

A single-electron memory cell. The narrowest region is 40 nanometres wide

or over 40 years, electronic components on silicon chips have been steadily reducing in size.

From the very beginning in the 1960s, Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, predicted that the number of transistors on a silicon chip would double every two years. This prediction, the famous Moore’s Law, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, driving the advances needed for each new generation of silicon chip and creating one of the most remarkable technological revolutions in history.

The basis of microelectronics is the field-effect transistor, the valve that controls the currents flowing around the chip. In 1970 the smallest part of these transistors was the width of a human hair, but has now reduced in size almost 1,000 times to just 35 nanometres. On a silicon chip, smaller means faster and it is this extraordinary reduction that has led to the dramatic increases in speed of electronic circuits.

Things change dramatically if dimensions drop below 10 nanometres.

Progress then runs into a tough barrier – quantum mechanics. We now enter a world where electrons behave as waves rather than particles. Electrons can tunnel through barriers meant to hold them, increasing the chip current and causing overheating.

Each electron has a specific energy and the smallest transistors now resemble artificial atoms or quantum dots. While the demise of the transistor has often been predicted and proved wrong, quantum effects change the fundamental nature of the device.

Thankfully, with problems come opportunities. Because the energy needed to add even one electron to such a small transistor becomes large enough to turn off the current flowing through it, we can now control individual electrons.

Such a device, a single electron transistor, has until recently only been studied in the laboratory. But the reduction in size below 10 nanometres brings with it the promise of practical applications with the performance of silicon chips beyond that possible with conventional transistors.

The ability of single-electron transistors to control individual electrons raises the exciting possibility of chips using only one electron to define one ‘bit’ of information. At Imperial College, we are working to put this ultimate limit of electronics into everybody’s hands.

That’s a development even Gordon Moore would have had trouble foreseeing.

Dr Zahid Durrani is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London 0207 5946232 www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/z.durrani

Are you an ‘imagineer’?

Collaboration across the supply chain is needed to bring new technologies to life

55 billion kWh of electrical power consumed daily around the world.

Technologies like this face a conundrum – they don’t become economical until adopted in high volume. The task, therefore, is to collaborate with companies across the manufacturing INDUSTRY VIEW chain to accelerate this process.

Designs must evolve as new he founders of GaN semiconductor processes Systems, Girvan Patterson, mature. New packaging solutions John Roberts and Geoff must support faster speeds, Haynes swept up – like many higher power dissipation and of our contemporaries – by the harsher environments. Novel electronics revolution of the late circuit topologies are Sixties are still surfing the semiconductor wave.

55bn kWh required to realise the promised performance.

And now, with strong of electrical North American venture power is used Higher frequency and temperature demand capital funding, GaN every day more of companion Systems is launching yet inductors and capacitors. another new technology.

System advantages must be The company’s novel approach proven and demonstrated. These to the design of transistors – built challenges span the gamut of in a thin layer of gallium nitride engineering disciplines. on the surface of a silicon wafer – While GaN Systems’ original promises to dramatically reduce ideas were born in Canada, the the cost of generation, conversion, UK offers a perfect environment distribution and control of the

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The future of electronic systems

Electrifying possibilities F The electronics industry is close to an exciting breakthrough using single electrons

Business Technology

T

for their gestation. An innovative supply chain supports international companies with talented local design teams; strong trade associations underpinned by government funding are fuelling research and development collaborations

CEO G holdin ir van Patters ga on Nitride wafer of Ga lliu power transis m tors

with excellent universities.

The stream of constant change that has propelled our careers will undoubtedly continue to accelerate. Now, more than ever, companies need inspiration from the next generation of “imagineers”. They have a unique talent to share – they don’t know what can’t be done. If you are a student passionate about building the future from the discoveries of your fellow pure scientists, strive to engage with the industrial world as early as you can. You can make a real contribution to industry during the summer vacation or even during your course. If your thirst for knowledge attracts you to postgraduate study, seek sponsorship from a prospective employer and start to drive the future of our exciting industry.

Dream to change the world.

Geoff Haynes is MD of GaN Systems Ltd ghaynes@gansystems.com www.gansystems.com

16

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Long live the microchip The microchip, also known as the integrated circuit, has seen many additions, alterations and challenges since it was invented in the late 1950s. Since that time its growth in use and ability has influenced the birth of many modern and innovative technologies, without which the world today would be a very different place

1958

The integrated circuit was invented

by Jack Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments

1940

1946

The first electronic computer was developed, the ENIAC, which was large enough to fill a room

Six months later, research engineer Robert Noyce, who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, also produced his own integrated circuit, solving several practical problems that existed in Kilby’s circuit

1950

1947

The transistor was invented, replacing the usual clunky vacuum tube in computers with a small, fast and reliable piece of equipment that would allow greater electrical constructions

1959

Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation applied for patents for their separate circuit inventions, leading to several years of legal battles

Engineering the impossible Companies must keep attracting the best talent for constant innovation focus on engineering talent. In turn, this commitment supports the industry’s broadest portfolio roadcom’s mantra – of system-on-chip solutions. engineering the impossible “Broadcom’s UK design – keeps the electronics teams have developed chips that landscape vibrant. The Fortune handle more than one-third of 500 leader in semiconductor the world’s home- and smalltechnologies for wired and business broadband data,” says wireless communications Kevin Freese, vice president of never loses sight of the value Eurasian engineering, Broadband of engineering and, ultimately, Communications Group. engineers. It is this vision that “Our culture emphasises fuels Broadcom’s mission 99.98% collaboration, co-operation to connect everyone of internet and distributed decisionand everything. traffic uses making – we function Broadcom as small teams of smart Driving force people, solving challenges For Broadcom, sophisticated and delighting customers. We engineering is the driving force provide the microchips in your behind a company founded by Sky/Humax boxes, routers, PCs, engineers. More than 77 per tablets, phones, Oyster cards and cent of its workforce is dedicated more. Your broadband, television to research and development, and phone are connected to which gives it a competitive an infrastructure built from advantage and is indicative of its

INDUSTRY VIEW

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Broadcom chips – a direct result of fostering talented engineers who contribute to our market leadership.”

Best and brightest Broadcom’s recruitment programme identifies and hires the best and brightest and ensures a productive and thoughtful career path.

Broadcom spends more than These values extend well 26 per cent of revenue on R&D beyond daily operations and have a widespread impact on the emerging talent at Broadcom means playing an pool. The company proactively important role in connecting supports science, technology, everything – for example, engineering and mathematics transitioning much of the world (STEM) education in schools from basic phones to affordable to encourage young people to yet powerful smartphones, such as follow technological careers.

Vodafone’s Smart II or Samsung’s “We enjoy thinking big, being Valencia. In fact, 99.98 per cent of bold and always being innovative,” all internet traffic crosses at least says Tim Ramsdale, vice president one Broadcom chip, so employees of engineering. “The company can see their talents making an has a hard-earned reputation for immediate and lasting impact.” providing the tools engineers need for success – and then 1223-381-300 stepping out of the way. Working www.broadcom.com

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The microprocessor is an integrated circuit that processes all information in the computer

1963

1975

1970

Hans Camenzind invented the 555 timer IC that would become a bestseller in analogue semiconductors. Used in kitchen appliances, toys and spacecraft

1969

Intel engineer Ted Hoff created the first single-chip microprocessor

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Bob Widlar designed the first monolithic operational amplifier.

Considered to be the sliced bread of analogue design, it is used by designers to make systems that are part of everyday electronics

Business Technology

1960

Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed Microsoft, while Apple Computers was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

1970

1986

The first megabit RAM chips introduced, which contained more than one million transistors

1980

1965

1961

The first commercially available integrated circuits was made

by Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. The original IC had just one transistor

By now there were 20,000 computers in the world; the most famous was the IBM System/360

1980

1971

1968

Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore founded Intel, which became one of the world’s largest microchips manufacturers

The first CPU invented – Intel’s 4-bit 4004. This single chip had as much computing power as the very first computer

There are now one million personal computers in the world The first 32-bit single-chip microprocessor was created by AT&T Bell Labs

Pushing the boundaries High-spec smartphones have come a long way in a short period of time and there’s much more to come INDUSTRY VIEW

A

little over 18 months ago the launch of the first dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor-based smartphone provided the greatest boost in smartphone performance the market has seen.

Now, a short time later, the benefits of multicore solutions are so great they account for over 40 per cent of all smartphone shipments and all high end devices, with quadcore solutions powering some of the highest performance platforms.

This may have been a rapid rate of adoption, but we now stand on the verge of Cortex-A15

processor-based mobile devices will shortly enter the market, doubling the performance bar. Next year big.LITTLE processing will arrive, delivering the nirvana of both great performance and reducing power consumption.

Need for more The primary demand for the increased mobile platform performance is simple to explain: consumers want to do more on their mobile devices. This is not exclusive to those purchasing high-end, $500 superphones, but includes people buying

lower cost platforms and expecting a great smartphone experience.

Evidence of consumers wanting to do more on mobile platforms surrounds us. In particular, mobile establishing itself as the primary source of internet traffic to some of the most popular websites.

Recently launched ARM processors, such as the Cortex-A53, will deliver the performance to transition the mobile platform from being consumers’ primary platform into the only compute platform they will need.

In effect, it will replace other connected devices

from gaming consoles years for the performance to your laptops. of superphones to appear Innovation is not at entry-level price points. restricted to the highest New ARM processors, tier of smartphones. such as the CortexIn fact, the most A57 and Cortex-A53, Multicore smartphones rapid evolution is will push the account for occurring at lower boundaries of 40% of the price points where what is capable market multicore solutions of within a mobile are starting to appear. power budget, whether combined together to Performance levels provide the only compute platform consumers need Low cost platforms are in the form factor of a not only suitable for superphone in 2014/15, or emerging markets, as this the Cortex-A53 processor is incorrect. These markets alone bringing the existing have already emerged superphone experience and are in strong demand to all price points. in mature smartphone markets where network Laurence Bryant, left, operators want to replace is director of mobile all feature phones in their solutions at ARM portfolios. I estimate that it www.arm.com will take approximately two

18

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2012

2007

1994

Amati Communications, a start-up out of Stanford University, created the Overture ADSL chip set, introducing the concept of DSL internet services

1990

Robert Noyce died on June 3

Introduction of chips containing tens of billions of memory transistors, called Ultra Large Scale Integration

2000

Jack Kilby received the Nobel Prize for the integrated circuit

1990

Researchers at MIT successfully completed the first trial of a drugreleasing microchip in humans, where the chips sits beneath the skin and delivers medication in precisely timed and measured doses

2000 1998

1991

The Kodak KAF-1300 Image Sensor featured in the Kodak DCS 100 digital camera, capturing images at a resolution of 1.3 megapixels – enough for sharp 5x7-inch prints. The chips’ success kick started the rise of the digital camera

UK Professor Kevin Warwick became the first human to have a microchip surgically implanted in his body to determine whether data could be transmitted to and from an implant. The project was a success

Shock S tactics

INDUSTRY VIEW

Static is the enemy of the electronics industry but there are steps businesses can take to minimise the risks

tatic is something that most of us are familiar with – the “shock” of touching a statically charged balloon, or hair standing on end when coming inside from the cold, for example.

So far so harmless, but static can have devastating effects: one of the hypotheses for the cause of the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937 was a static spark.

For the electronics industry, electro-static discharge (ESD) and electrical over-stress (EOS) are very real threats that can cause damage to equipment, as well as being a health and safety concern.

ESD can create spectacular sparks, but just as dangerous are the often unseen or unheard and seemingly small electrostatic charges that may be created in normal industrial processes.

And while there are many excellent products to help minimise the problem – such as shielding bags, tapes and wrist bands – no known technology can currently eradicate both EOS and ESD from the factory floor.

But with manufacturing

2009

2001

The first iPod was released In October, after being developed in less than one year

environments becoming increasingly complex – with more potential points of risk – it is no longer viable to ignore the impact of static.

So what’s the solution? The first step is to audit where vulnerabilities may occur. This can be a cultural challenge for some organisations, but some of the more forwardthinking manufacturers working with 3M are recognising the need for continuous static control ­– and taking the issue very seriously indeed.

They see that managing static not only increases production yields and reduces warranty claims, but also improves work practices.

So how does continuous monitoring work?

Computer-based systems provide real-time remote visibility of EOS and ESD activity factorywide and even worldwide, which is helpful for organisations with dispersed manufacturing plants.

Alerts can be set for unacceptable levels of EOS or ESD, stopping production and addressing the problem. Plus, this data can

Green computing plays a part as scientists from Nanyang Technological University and Rice University created the PCMOS microchip, which used 30 times less electricity while running seven times faster than most leading technology

be recorded for analysis, which can help improve static control policies.

So while the creation of static cannot be completely eradicated, the cost of failure from EOS and ESD events can

theoretically be minimised to near zero, which has to be good news for the UK’s electronics industry.

Adrian Hyner is general manager of electronics and energy at 3M UK solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/ portal/3M/en_GB/EU2/Country

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Classifieds ams develops and manufactures highperformance analog semiconductors that solve its customers’ most challenging problems with innovative solutions. ams products are aimed at applications which require extreme precision, accuracy, dynamic range, sensitivity, and ultra-low power consumption.

Contact: +43 (0)3136 500 31200 press@ams.com www.ams.com

John G Peck is a highly experienced specialist in the field of power electronics.

Provides state-of-the-art components and solutions through associations with world-leading manufacturers.

Contact: 01509 881010 enquiries@jgpl.com www.jgpl.com

Specialising in audio and image processing, Akya makes customised, highly-flexible signal processing solutions for modern electronic devices ranging from security cameras to high-end audio devices.

Contact 01757 292626 enquiries@akya.co.uk www.akya.co.uk

November 2012

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The future of electronic systems

INDUSTRY VIEW

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today’s integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment and computer systems.

Established in 1999, the IC Group has become the de facto recruitment partner to Europe’s high tech community. Four companies work across semiconductors (IC Resources), software and DSP (IC Software), electronics (IC 3E) and UX/UI (IC Creative). Permanent and contract recruitment: technical, commercial, executive search.

Contact: 01344.360333 marketing_euro@cadence.com www.cadence.com

Contact: 01189 881150 enquiry@ic-groupltd.com www.ic-groupltd.com

PRP is a specialist manufacturer of high quality LED-based systems for the most demanding applications in avionic, industrial and medical sectors. PRP offer a complete service – from design and development to integration.

Rohde & Schwarz UK Ltd is an independent sales, service and solution provider to customers in the fields of test & measurement, broadcasting, IT security, radiomonitoring and radiolocation as well as military radio-communications

Contact: 01327 359135 sales@prpopto.co.uk www.prpopto.com

Contact: 01252 818 888 contact.uk@rohde-schwarz.com www.rohde-schwarz.co.uk

ANSYS is the acknowledged industry leader in simulation for electronics applications. ANSYS solutions span the full range of signal integrity, power integrity, and high-frequency and low frequency electromechanical analyses for virtually any electronics application.

Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in embedded processing solutions, providing industry-leading products from microprocessors and microcontrollers to sensors, analog integrated circuits and connectivity, that are advancing the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets.

Contact 01344 767 550 ukinfo@ansys.com www.ansys.com

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20

Business Technology

an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the guardian

November 2012

The future of electronic systems

Find us online: biztechreport.co.uk

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BOB MARSHALL

Lessons from a software sensei A joined-up way of working can lead to more efficient and reliable delivery of software

Something has been going on in the cube farms and drab offices of the software development folks.

The “something” I’m talking about is: learning. All over the world, in ones and twos, in small groups, in corridors and training rooms, in pubs and in conferences, software people have been learning together. Learning what it takes to deliver quality software reliably and effectively.

In the process, these ‘software senseis’ have been learning some fundamental truths – not just about software development, but also about the world of knowledge-work as a whole.

It’s all about the people Ten or 20 years ago, most software people spent their working lives struggling with technology. Just getting the technology to work reliably was a major achievement.

How things have changed!

Technology these days is infinitely more reliable – and easy (for

specialists) to understand.

Today’s focus has switched to people and how to get people to work well together in high-performance teams. The software senseis have embraced the idea that it’s the people that matter when it comes to reliable delivery of software.

A bigger system For decades, people have been trying to improve parts of organisations in isolation. The software development department has not been immune from this behaviour. Recently, much new evidence illustrates the benefits that can accrue from taking a wider view, and from managing organisations in a joined-up way.

Following on from the lesson that managing and improving parts of a business independent of each other can only lead to sub-optimisation, many high-performance software teams now see that their core problems lay outside their immediate span of control.

Hand in hand with the realisation that key issues lie outside the software development department and its immediate control, is the realisation of the power of flow.

Software senseis have learned the folly of obsessing about costs – that such obsession actually drives costs up. People have now learned that when they focus on flow – making work move smoothly and quickly – reliability improves dramatically and costs fall.

Ready to progress Much has been learned over the past decade about this young field.

And much continues to be learned.

What has not yet been discovered is how to share this new learning with the business mainstream.

This is the next great frontier, and one in which the software senseis are ready to play their part.

Bob Marshall is an organisational therapist based in London. To read more, visit biztechreport.co.uk